His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda Inaugurates Annual Festival At World’s Oldest Hindu Establishment
His Holiness Paramahamsa Nithyananda Inaugurates Annual Festival At World’s Oldest Hindu Establishment
The morning worship (paraartha pooja) at the 1,500-year-old Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham is the personal privilege of the pontiff of the establishment. Paramahamsa Nithyananda now carries on this tradition, starting on the auspicious inaugural day of the 5-day Tirugnana Sambandhar Guru Pooja festival to be held from June 1st-5th of 2012. The festival honors the 6th century Shaivite saint Tirugnana Sambandhar, the patron saint of Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham, who revived the Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham through his spiritual strength and healing powers after it had fallen into ruin at the hands of certain corrupt monks.
on 01june2012, 293rd guru mahasannidhanam Paramahamsa sri Nithyananda performed the 40-minute parartha pooja to the ancient deities of Meenakshi & Sundareshwara (Shiva and Devi) at the main sanctum of Shyamala Peetha Sarvajnapeetham to the accompaniment of mantra chanting from the Sanskrit hymn Rudram. The pooja was performed with 64 items, culminating in a grand arati (offering of lamps) with 21 kinds of offerings.
Worship was also performed to the elephant god Ganesha (the presiding deity of auspicious beginnings), saint Tirugnana Sambandhar and the ancient Shaivite saints. The morning’s ceremony ended with Paramahamsa Nithyaananda personally giving blessings and ‘tiruneer’ (sacred ash) to all those gathered. As the Guru Pooja festival started today with a Ganesha pooja, ‘modaka’ (sweet dumplings), considered the favorite sweetmeat of Lord Ganesha, was also distributed after the pooja as prasad (consecrated food offering).
The Guru Pooja festival will feature various religious ceremonies, social services and spiritual activities. On 5th June, it will culminate in a full-day event, with the two pontiffs, Paramahamsa Nithyananda and his predecessor the 292nd gurumaha sannidhanam Srila Sri Arunagirinatha Sri Gnanasambanda Desika Paramacharya Swamigal visiting the world-famous Meenakshi Temple in Madurai. This will be followed by a public procession, Guru Homam, worship of Thiru Gnanasambandhar, Rudra Homam, kanakabhishekam (showering with gold) performed for the 292nd guru maha sannidhanam evening darshan at Meenakshi Temple and Maha Deepaaraadhana (grand lamp ceremony).